1.3 KiB
1.3 KiB
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Rules of Significant Figures |
Rules of Significant Figures
Significant figures of a number are all of the digits that carry meaning to the final representation of a measurement. They represent how precise the measurement is.
The rules to find which digits of a number are significant figures:
- All non-zero digits are significant
- All zeros between non-sero digits are significant: 202, 2002, 20002
- Leading zeros aren't significant
- In a decimal number, all trailing zeros represent precision, and thusly are significant
- In a non-decimal number, if there is a "." at the end, all figures to the left are significant (except leading zeros)
Examples:
- 0.05400 has [4] sig figs: 5, 4, 0 and 0
- 0.0054090 has [5] sig figs: 5, 4, 0, 9, and 0
- 100 has [1] sig fig: 1
- 100.0 has [3] sig figs: 1, 0, and 0
- More Information: